Sheridan's Spring Open House 2016

It's almost March and you haven't accepted your offer at Sheridan yet! You're not sure if you're making the right decision. You're uncertain about the industry and would like to learn more the program in general. Well, look no further! Sheridan is hosting a Spring Open House 2016 event in 2 months!

You will have an opportunity to meet faculty members, staff and students. And I am happy to share with you that I will be there representing all the post-grad programs in the Faculty of Business particularly in my program, Advertising Account Management, for the second time around. All campuses are open on April 23, Saturday, from 10 am to 1 pm.

In addition to the opportunity of meeting the faculty members and students, you also have a chance tour the campus. It will be a guided tour presented by one of the Student Admissions Representatives who is also a current Sheridan student. I suggest you to ask any questions to the student representatives. Those representatives are sincere and will provide you great tips on how to survive in the class and at Sheridan. Representatives will not only guide you to check out some of the great spots on campus but they will also provide you more information about the services that are available to students.

I honestly didn't know about the student services when I was a new student. I only learned more about these great 'stuffs' when I was part of the recruitment team at Davis campus in 2011. Before coming to Sheridan, I never thought that schools are open for tours. I was new to Canada at that time and Asia didn't have that type of recruitment strategies. If I wasn't a part of the Admissions and Recruitment team, I will never be aware of the student services. All campuses have the following services: student advisement, financial aid (awards and OSAP), gym, medical insurance, databases (library), health centre, IT, student rights and responsibilities and many more.

After visiting the campus and talking to people who will help you understand more of your program, you can also visit the Marketplace area so you can do 3 things:

1. Learn more about OSAP/scholarships/bursaries
2. Evaluate the event for a chance to win a surprise gift (usually iPad)
3. Visit Admissions Department's booth so you can finally click the Accept button.

So what are you waiting for, SAVE THE DATE!

3 Reasons Why I Love My Program

Image by Pixabay

Nine more weeks and we're done with our program! My first term was a blast while this term is better. I am glad I chose this program. Today, I would like to share with  you 3 reasons why I love my program:

1. More in-depth topics:  Although this program is a condensed program of the 3-year program that is offered at Sheridan; the topics are more in-depth and relevant. There are so many things to learn and how I wish I can borrow SpongeBob for 2 more months so I can absorb everything that's being taught by the professors. I may not have saved everything that I learned but I made sure that I saved all my notes by the help of technology such as Microsoft OneNote, Google Drive and my laptop's hard drive. FYI, although there are lots of opportunities to learn, we are very lucky that we don't have to buy books. Who wants to read "academic" books, anyway? 
2. Creativity: One of the reasons why I went back to school after working in the industry for almost 2 years was my personal goal to improve my creativity skills. I believe that creativity is learned when you have fun. I can still remember Albert Einstein who once said that "Creativity is the intelligence having fun". I have realized how important it is to be creative in one's life. This term, we have plenty of opportunities to enhance our creative thinking skills. Honestly, prior to joining this program, I sometimes find myself getting stuck on a particular idea for a longer period. I seldom get frustrated and disappointed. As a result, I give up. That's really a bad habit! But hey, I changed a lot because of this program.
3. Great professors. I have a strong adoration to professors who "educate" students. My entire family and relatives are educators (My dad was once a university professor, my mom is a current grade school master teacher, my grandma was a teacher, my aunt is currently a school principal, 3 of my aunts are grade school teachers and the list goes on and on.), therefore, I understand how much effort that they have to do to ensure that their students understand the lecture. Sheridan advertising post-grad professors are exemplary. They go an extra mile just to ensure that we benefit from the program. They care and want us to be successful. They treat us as their own children. Yes, they get upset at us sometimes but it's normal. They need to discipline us if need be. If we are not paying attention (because we are doing homework that is not related to their class), they will tell us to stay away from doing unnecessary tasks. Yes, it's awkward but this helps us to be a better person (If I am a professor, I will probably do the same way too.).

I am satisfied and inspired. Although I sacrificed my full-time job just to go back to school, it's all worth it. 

If I Am Not in the Advertising Program, I Would Be in….

If I am not in the Advertising Program, I would be in the animation arena. Although I don’t have the skills to draw a fascinating character and come up with a strong visual design, I appreciate the hard work of animators in creating multiple images or frames which give an illusion of movement to convey a stronger and compelling story.

As someone who grew up in Asia, I had the privilege of watching anime films and shows created by Japanese animators. Believe me, I watch anime shows every day. Those shows were the only reason why I had to go home early when I was in elementary and high school. Some of my most favourite anime shows or movies in 1990s-2000s include Dragon Ball Z, Lupin III, One Piece, My Neighbor Totoro and a lot more.

As technology improves and numbers of animators increase, animation shows and movies improved a lot in many ways (e.g. 3D, HD and etc.). However, there is one thing that remained in the field of animation – capturing the audience’s emotion and attention or what I call “the sweet spot”.

Today, I would like to share with you 4 of my most favourite animation movies that were created:

1. Lion King: This was the first animation movie that made me cry especially when Mufasa, Simba’s heroic dad, was thrown off a cliff and crushed to death. Simba, as an innocent child, didn’t have an idea what death is. And he grew up without his dad around him. Sad movie! 
2. Toy Story 3: Who loves “goodbyes”? Nobody! I teared up when Andy had to go to college and leave his toys. That was heart-breaking. 
3. Big Hero 6: Do you still remember when Baymax sacrificed his life in the outer space just to save Hiro? Again, “goodbyes” are very powerful. 
4. KungFu Panda: This movie didn’t make me cry but it inspired me to treasure each moment in my life. I remember Master Oogway before he vanished in a haze of peach blossoms and told this line to Po “There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” I consider this line as one of my mottos in life. Sweet! 

Now let’s go back to my main statement, “If I am not in the Advertising Program, I would be in the animation arena.” Animation gives me so much inspiration in thinking differently and embracing possibilities. As a matter of fact, most of my works in my portfolio or my creative projects were inspired by an animated character or scenario. Animation and advertising have in common. You create one simple and big idea, execute it in an authentic way and connect deeply with your main audience.

So if you are not in the industry or program that you are in today, which profession/program would you choose and why?

Advertising Account Management Will Be Moving to HMC Campus This Fall 2016

Image by Pact Engineering

BREAKING NEWS!! The Advertising Account Management (AAM) program will be moving to HMC Campus this coming fall term (2016) from Trafalgar! Is it a great idea? Yes? Maybe? No?

What do you think is the best place for AAM (a.k.a. “All Astounding Mortals”) students? Trafalgar or HMC? Let me share with you some of my personal views about the two campuses. Now let’s begin with Trafalgar Campus. I love Trafalgar campus because:

• It’s a very diverse school. You see different amazing and talented students. It is a unique place where you hear students singing while jogging outside the building or see a group of game design students mainly girls, playing hardcore video or online games in the group study rooms. 
• There’s an art wall drawn by first-year students’ in the hallway beside the library. The things or artwork around us at Trafalgar campus inspire us to be creative and to see things differently. 

Image by Sheridan College

• It has 3 Tim Hortons stores (C-wing, B-wing and self-serve @ the marketplace/cafeteria). We are dependent on caffeine and we will not survive without it in a day. 

Now, let’s take a look at HMC Campus. Here are the three reasons why I love this campus, too:

• It has high-tech classrooms with colourful paddles and comfortable chairs. A classroom typically has at least 6 projectors, too. 

Image by Sheridan College

• You only meet business (a.k.a. serious/professional) students. 
• The campus is located in the heart of Mississauga or beside Square One, the largest enclosed mall in Ontario and the second largest in Canada according to one of the reports from the City of Mississauga. The points above are just some of the few reasons why I love these campuses. Each campus has unique and strong points. So is the program better off to be delivered at Trafalgar or HMC?

Honestly, these factors don’t affect much to us as advertising students. These things may be important to students. However, the assets of our program are our dedicated professors (BIG TIME...cough) and the curriculum that the faculty members are constantly revising in order for us to benefit from the program.

Sheridan Ad Profs 

So whether the classes will be delivered in Mississauga or Oakville, the quality of the program depends on the professors and the curriculum.

What do you think?

Be Authentic and Entertaining

Creating an authentic and humorous posts on social media is vital to engage and interact with the audience. There are numerous meanings of “authenticity”. We can view it as genuineness and humanness that makes a brand more trustworthy.

Last week, I decided to create a social media experiment using 2 platforms – Facebook and Camera360. Camera360 is an image-editing tool that will allow users to apply tons of exceptional effects of every kind of images most particularly those “selfie” images. The app is available in Google App and iTunes.

1st Port

I posted my “selfie” image on Facebook that I took using Camera360 with this caption “Do you wanna see the good/funny side of me? Here you go. Lol.”

Before starting my experiment, I was only hoping to get around 20 likes. After 2 days, I received 103 likes, which was remarkable. Around 10 of my Facebook friends commented on the image. Some enjoyed seeing my post but my parents were not happy at all. Moral lesson, don’t add your parents on social media!

Within 24 hours of my so called “experiment”, I posted another image on Facebook thanking everyone who liked my previous post. The main message of the post was not only to extend my gratitude to everyone who enjoyed my picture but to stop them liking my post. However, my Facebook friends’ heads are as hard as rocks. I got more 80 likes and I was exhilarated by the unexpected result. I got more comments on my second post. And my #1 fan, my dad, was one of the people who was disturbed by what he saw.

2nd Post

Kidding aside, if you would like to increase your engagement with your audience on social media platforms, you have to find ways to be entertaining, relevant and authentic.

Why Did I Decide to Join the Advertising - Account Management Program?

“Hey Odecca, let’s run a newspaper ad using a local newspaper. You have an option whether to place an ad using The Mississauga News, 24 Hours or Employment News. We have a limited budget allocated in this project. Please implement this project ASAP.”

That was one of the hardest tasks that was assigned to me by the owner of my previous company. I had tons of questions. Some of those questions included “How will I successfully implement this project?”, “What are the available resources that I can use?” or “Who will be helping me to run this project?”

I asked my supervisor plenty of questions and she simply said “I will connect you with the advertising reps, show you some examples of our previous ads and you’re in-charge of the entire process. You have to analyze the market and figure out which location would you like us to run the ad.”

Wow! That was a great start!

I was overwhelmed. I thought I was not ready for this challenge because I never handled this type of project before. I only had a couple of advertising courses when I was in the Marketing program at Sheridan and I did not have an in-depth knowledge in this area. The result? The ad run for 3 months. But before the first ad was published, I encountered many challenges pertaining to circulation, coverage, terms and conditions, ad sizes and many more. It was challenging but exciting.

This made me realize that I have to do something to fill the gaps that I need to improve as a Marketer. I started checking Sheridan’s website and found Advertising Account Management program. I applied and got accepted in the program. Sweet! I can’t wait to tell you more about this program. So far, I am loving it!